Valen’s Vanity Square

Apart from golfing, I suppose another exorbitant, but in my opinion is a more interesting and physically challenging, hobby will be horse riding. Put aside the fees of joining an equestrian club and taking up horse-riding lessons, and buying equestrian equipments, horse-riding apparel is also something we cannot dismiss in the expenses involved in this hobby.

Yeah, I’m talking from a women’s point of view, hehe. If we are going to ride a horse, we’d better ride it in the smartest horse-riding outfit we can get. Even the saddles have to look cool. Not only that we want to be a skilled horse rider, we also need to be fashion-conscious one, right, ladies?

Look smart in one of these horse-riding ladies shirts, show coat or show shirt

If you are interested to view more horse-riding apparel and equipment, do check out theequestriancorner.com.

My sister lost 4 kg since I last saw her 3 weeks ago. It looks like her weight loss plan is working.

She is not on diet pills, but a meal replacement drink which she uses to replace her dinner almost every day. On top of that, she cuts down the portion of her breakfast and lunch, and plays badminton once a week. If she perseveres for another month or so, she probably could lose another 4-5 kg and then have the same weight as me (if I don’t gain weight, that is).

Good for her. But now I’m worried for myself. Haha!

I must make sure that, under normal circumstances, my weight will never exceed hers. That means more exercise for me from now onwards, because I’m not a person who likes to skip meals.

Yeah, exercise for a healthy weight and body!

Neck pain, shoulder ache and lower backache have been accompanying me in the recent couple of years. This is a consequence of many factors put together – long hours in front of the computer, the contour of my pillow, and lack of exercise to relax the muscles. It gets worse whenever we stay over at my in-law’s place. The shape of the sofa bed in the guest room is bad for the back; hubby and I can never sleep well there.

I have come to realize how getting a good night sleep on a comfortable bed mattress is so important to our health. Only with a good night rest that our body and mind can rejuvenate to face new challenges the next day. And with a good quality mattress, we will not wake up in the morning moaning in pain and suffering more stress!

When will I be able to sleep on such a comfortable bed?

So, for our new home, I told hubby that we should invest in a good mattress like the memory foam mattress, which is able to ‘remember’ the shape and weight of our body, staying firm where support is needed and soft where comfort is wanted. Ultimately, we want good quality sleep for a healthy body.

Well, I have to bear with the sofa bed for one more night. Tomorrow I will sleep on my own bed. Although it’s not some super high-tech mattress, but it’s still more comfortable (and bigger!) than the sofa bed.

I bought a purple-colored, knee-length evening to wear during my brother-in-law’s wedding dinner, which was held yesterday.

When I bought the dress, it was almost impossible to zip up the dress. But once the zip was up (with help from the shop assistance), the dress looked really nice on me, except that, hehe, I had to REALLY tuck in my tummy and hold my breath. So, I had it loosened slightly between the bust and waist area. After that, it was easier for the shop assistant to zip up the dress for me and I thought the dress looked perfect!

While the shop assistant used less than 5 seconds to do it, yesterday hubby and I struggled over it for 15 minutes to zip up my dress! No matter how hard I hold my breath in, hubby just couldn’t get the zip to move beyond and up the waist. Hubby was afraid that he would break the zip. Luckily, and finally, we did have the zip up and the dress didn’t bust apart, haha! Imagine, if the zip broke or the dress spoiled, I didn’t have anything to wear to the dinner!

Well, I don’t think it’s my fault. It’s not likely that my size had expanded in just a few days’ time. I guess it’s more of hubby’s poor zipping skill, But whatever reason it was, I made one decision at the end – I need to shed off some extra bits from my waist and above, haha!

I won’t be relying on weight loss pills to achieve this though. I prefer to do it through exercise and healthy diet. Getting physically active is basically what I need actually. I have been living quite a sedentary lifestyle for too long a time due to working from home.

Hmm, may be I should start planning a more rigorous exercise routine (besides weekend walks in the park) when I return to Penang tomorrow.

I’m now packing up things for a 4-day stay in KL. It’s considered a short stay, and normally I won’t bring too many things along. However, it will be my brother-in-law’s wedding this Saturday, so I have got more than usual things to pack.

The hassle is not so much on the clothes, but my skincare and beauty stuffs, hehe. You know how I always have one hundred and one bottles to take with me when I travel.

Oh, I have to bring along my laptop too. I might want to go to Starbucks the day after the wedding – which is Sunday – to check e-mails and do some blogging. You know what, may be for my next laptop (don’t know when that will be) I should buy a smaller and lighter one. Something around 12 inches will be nice, can fit into a tote and easier to carry.

Anyway, my presence won’t be felt in the blogosphere for the next few days. But I will be back on Sunday (not physically back in Penang though)! So, till I see you all, have a good week ahead!

My bottle of Estee Lauder Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher is going to be empty soon. Although the pores on my skin do look slightly smaller than they used to be 4 or 5 months ago, but frankly, the product didn’t work wonders on me. So there won’t be a second bottle of this cream on my dressing table.

May be my expectation is too high. I shouldn’t expect my skin to revert to its youngest days when one would need a magnifying glass to see clearly the pores on my face, haha! The fact is, once pores are stretched, there is no way to permanently shrink them back to their original size. However, we can do a few things to help minimize the appearance of pores and prevent them from becoming even larger.

Below are some suggestions from skin experts:

• First and foremost, practice good skincare habits. Wash make-up AND sunscreen before go to bed at night. My personal opinion: Some people tend to use moisturizers with SPF at night. That’s a no-no! If you want to use whitening products, use whitening moisturizer designed for night use.

• Do not pop or prick pimples as this will stretch the pores further, as well as lead to scarring. (May be I’ve done this too much when I was younger! )

• Use skincare products that increase levels collagen and elastin (e.g. products with vitamin C and retinol because they increase collage production) to prevent the pores from stretching.

• Use products with alpha-hydroxy acids that will help exfoliate skin, keeping it clear of oil and dead skin cells, which are culprits for enlarged pores.

• Pores look more obvious when they are clogged with oil or sebum. For oily or acne-prone skin type, experts suggest using products with salicylic acid to clear out oil in the pores.

• When the skin around the pores swells slightly, the pores will appear smaller. Experts believe facial serums containing vitamin C can do the trick. I rely on facial masks - feed my skin with water, it will ‘pump’ up and soft to the touch.

So, looks like I still have a long road to go when it comes to pores matter, huh?

I think I have overspent again over the past weeks.

(Jeez, may be I should get some budget software to help me plan my spending, or else I would have zero budget to shop in the coming months, haha!)

Well, it was necessary to spend, because I need to shop for dresses AND cosmetics that go with my dresses for the big occasion happening this weekend - my brother-in-law’s wedding.

But you know, sometimes when you are in such a good mood to shop, you tend to add extra items to your original shopping list, right?

Okay, may be it’s just me.

Anyway, besides being on the hunt for an evening dress, I ended up having a red chiffon chemise from Xixili in my shopping bag, hehe. It’s my first time buying lingerie from Xixili, but I believe I will buy from them more often in the future because their lingerie has quite nice designs.

I figured I had to buy it because I didn’t even have one, okay? My dear hubby bought me a black slip from Victoria’s Secret during his trip to Indonesia earlier this year. Guess what? It’s two sizes too small!

(Yeah, slept with this guy for 7 years and that is what I received.)

Oh well, never mind who bought the lingerie, as long as it looks fine on me, and makes me feel sexy…. Hahaha!

Bought a magazine the other day and was happy to find a sample sachet of Lancome’s UV Expert Neuroshield High Potency Active Protection 12H UV-Pollution SPF50 PA+++. I tried it on the next day before I left for my morning exercise session in the park.

I expected the moisturizer to be really creamy and heavy since it has SPF50. But to my surprise, it is rather light-weight, easily blended over the face, and it smells good too. I basically finished up the whole sachet, applying it generously on my face and neck, haha! For a lotion with SPF50, Lancome UV Expert Neuroshield does not leave a feeling greasiness on the skin. I like it very much!

Lancome UV Expert Neuroshield High Potency Active Protection12H UV-Pollution SPF50 PA+++

I don’t know its price, but my guess is it should be around RM200. Nope, I won’t be buying it this time around, as I still have lots of other bottles of lotion and cream to finish up, hehe. If I were to buy every skincare product I like, then hubby probably would need to buy drive one of those travel trailers, so that I could carry all my one hundred and one skincare items whenever we travel to KL.

Anyway, if you are looking for something with equivalent SPF but comes with a cheaper tag, check out Garnier UV Protect Advanced Daily UV Blocking Lotion SPF50/PA+++.

Garnier UV Protect Advanced Daily UV Blocking Lotion SPF50/PA+++

I haven’t gotten any sample to try on this one yet. If I remember correctly, its price is less than RM40 in the pharmacies. Hmmm, wonder where I could get free samples of this to try…

Grammy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Best Dressed Awards, Worst Dressed Awards… there are so many awards to keep us entertained every year. But I didn’t know there is a thing called the Undie Awards until yesterday. Yeah, you read me write, it’s the Annual Undie Awards!

This yearly award activity is organized by HerRoom.com, an online merchant specializing in lingerie and underwear for both men and women. Basically everyone, anyone, can vote for their favorite bra, thong, bikini, panties, etc (unless you are not inclined to wearing undie of any sort, :P).

However, this year the Undies Award has a special and meaningful mission - HerRoom has pledged to donate twenty-five cents for each individual voter (up to 100,000 voters) to The National Cervical Cancer Public Education Campaign, which is committed to eliminate cervical cancer by providing women information about cervical cancer prevention, early detection and treatment. (You can read more about cervical cancer here).

Since this is voting for a good cause, as well as for fun (checking out different brands/designs of bras and lingeries), I think every girl should do it. I myself have voted, too. This set of bra and panty was what I voted for. Sexy, eh? Hehe….

Wacoal Lost in Lace Underwire Bra and Tanga Panty

Well, there’s not much time left. I think there is only one more day left before the voting closes. So hurry up, cast your vote at www.theundies.com quick!